On 16 April 2018, KEI Europe and 32 groups wrote a letter to the European Commission’s Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, expressing concerns over the Commission’s plans to create an EU Watch List.

The letter states that “despite the European Union’s public pledge of support for third countries’ right to use the flexibilities of the TRIPS Agreement and the support of an indefinite exemption for least-developed countries on implementing WTO intellectual property rules for pharmaceuticals, the EU Watch-List will chill third countries’ efforts to protect public health and to promote access to medicines as reaffirmed by the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health.” and calls to the European Commission to review its plans.